Article 18 of the Law on the Anti-Corruption Committee stipulates that the Competition Council for the election of candidates for the Chairman of the Anti-Corruption Committee shall be formed.

The Competition Council is composed of candidates nominated by the Government, the Council of the National Assembly, the Supreme Judicial Council, the Prosecutor General, the Human Rights Defender (each of them nominates one candidate), and two representatives of civil society.

On 28 June, an announcement was published on the official website of the Government, which reads:

“The following organizations have applied for the competition announced by the Prime Minister’s Office for the inclusion of representatives of civil society organizations in the Competition Council for the Election of Candidates for the Chairman of the Anti-Corruption Committee: Transparency International Anti-Corruption Center NGO” and “Union of Informed Citizens” Consulting NGO.

The interesting thing here is that later this announcement was removed from the site and now, when accessing the link of the material, it indicates that such page does not exist https://www.gov.am/en/announcements/item/1090/. It can also be seen in the section of announcements. There is no announcement published that was published on 28 June.

The Ministry of Justice has made two announcements about this competition, but which organizations participated in the competition, and has any organization recognized/not recognized, has not been made public.

As we have already informed, on 29 June, at the special sitting of the National Assembly Council, Heriknaz Tigranyan was appointed a member of the Competition Council formed for the election of candidates for the Chairman of the Anti-Corruption Committee by 11 votes in favor, 0 abstentions and 0 votes against.

Heriknaz Tigranian’s appointment as a member of the Competition Council to be formed for the election of the candidates for the Chairman of the Anti-Corruption Committee is illegal, because under paragraph 3 of Article 18 of the Law on the Anti-Corruption Committee, a member with party affiliation cannot be appointed a member of the Competition Council, and Heriknaz Tigranyan is a member the “Civil Contract” Party.

In addition, as it is known, she is also a former employee of the “Transparency International” anti-corruption center and currently a member of the same organization.

Heriknaz Tigranyan is also a member of the Competition Council for the selection of a candidate for the post of Corruption Prevention Commission, which includes Liana Ghaltaghchyan, Deputy Chief of the Prime Minister Staff, who is also a member of the Transparency International Anti-Corruption Center, and before receiving a state position she also worked in that center.

Moreover, it should again be noted that the journalistic investigation previously published by Iravaban.net, states that the competition for the inclusion of NGOs in the current Anti-Corruption Policy Council was conducted with violations, the results of which are illegal for the three NGOs.

These organizations were:

• Transparency International Anti-Corruption Center NGO,
• “Union of Informed Citizens” Consulting NGO,
• “Freedom of Information Center” NGO.

These organizations are still illegally members of the council.

Note the interconnection of these NGOs with the Government as well. 

A few days later, on 6 July, another special sitting of the NA Council took place, during which the Council decided to declare invalid the decision AJKHO-041-A of the NA Council of 29 June, 2021 “On appointing a member of the Competition Council to be formed for the election of candidates for the Chairman of the Anti-Corruption Committee”, according to which Heriknaz Tigranyan was appointed a member of the Competition Council to be formed for the election of the candidates for the Chairman of the Anti-Corruption Committee.